


Mountaintops and Raindrops

by asofthaven



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Comedy of Errors, Gen, Hiking, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2015-12-12
Packaged: 2018-05-06 06:07:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5405861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asofthaven/pseuds/asofthaven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kenma didn't even want to go on this trip.</p><p>Or, the Nekoma volleyball team goes to an onsen and never step foot in the water.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mountaintops and Raindrops

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



The trip is Kai’s idea, presented to the team after practice.

“A onsen trip?” Kenma asks slowly. Kai doesn’t miss the less-than-enthused nature of Kenma’s question.

“It’ll be fun,” he says, and because it’s Kai, Kenma believes him. Because it’s Kai, _everyone_ believes him, and a little over a week later, the team is gathered to catch the train to Kai’s aunt’s onsen for a weekend of what Kuroo insists will be _really relaxing, seriously Kenma, try and recapture your youth._

Kenma squints at the sun overhead while they wait for the train. He wishes Kuroo would shut up, sometimes.

“How far is the onsen from the station?” Yaku is asking Kai. Kenma’s still unused to seeing his teammates in casual clothing, and it takes him a moment to be able to pick everyone out of the crowd. Once he’s done that, he lets his attention fall back to his game.

“Not far. We’ll have to take a bus,” Kai says, and then his words are lost as the train rushes into the station, blowing cold wind across the platform. Kenma buries his nose in his jacket and prays the weekend proves to be warmer than his weather app would suggest.

“Have you ever been to an onsen before?” Lev asks. He stays standing while everyone else sits, and Kenma’s neck strains at how far up he has to look as a result. He turns his attention back to his game as he answers.

“No.”

“Me neither,” Inuoka pipes up, sitting on the one side of Kenma. He leans forward, grinning, “It supposed to be really good for your, like, muscles and aches!”

“You’re forgetting the most important part,” Tora says from his seat directly across from Kenma. Kenma rolls his eyes at the solemn expression that Tora makes. “ _Mixed bathing_.”

“Ah,” Kai says, expression serene, “my aunt’s onsen is actually divided.”

Kuroo is too overcome with laughter to make his usual snap at Tora’s vocal disappointment, and from the expression Kai is wearing, Kenma has a feeling he’d been waiting to share that tidbit.

Once they get off the train, they take a short bus ride to the onsen. Kenma wants to apologize for the amount of space nine high school volleyball players take up on the small bus, but everyone is well-behaved, so the guilt dissipates to background noise as the bus heads into pretty, mountainous countryside. If Kenma squints, he can see Mount Fuji through the afternoon fog, rising high above the smaller mountains in the area.

He is, tentatively, excited.

 

The onsen is attached to a traditional style bed-and-bath, and Kai’s aunt is waiting for them in the foyer when they troop in. She draws Kai into a hug that somehow makes _him_ look like the smaller of the two. She repeats everyone’s name after they’re introduced, then leads them to the room, pointing out the way they should go when they want to head to the washroom and onsen.

“Remember to wash well before getting into the onsen,” she remarks. “And be mindful of the other guests!”

“Yes, ma’am,” they chime in unison, and she beams at them before leaving them to their own devices.

Kenma immediately curls up against the wall, stretching his legs along the ground while the others inspect the room. They have a nice view of a miniature garden, and the window lets in enough sunlight that Kenma is more than content to sit in the same spot for the entirety of the trip.

“What should we start with, then?” Yaku asks from where he’s sprawled on the floor.

“There’s a nice hiking trail,” Shibayama pipes up, reading from the brochure he grabbed when they first entered the onsen. He looks up, grinning. “That could be fun, right?”

Kenma’s disgruntled noise is buried under Inuoka and Lev’s enthusiastic exclamations. They scramble to either side of Shibayama, Lev nearly knocking a table over in his haste, to read the hiking blurb aloud. Fukunaga sits next to Kenma, listening to the first years with a tilt of his head.

“Have you ever been on those trails?” Kuroo asks Kai, who’s putting his water bottle into the minifridge in the corner of the room.

“Not in a while,” Kai answers. “But the trails are always really pretty, and it’s not cold enough yet for there to be ice.”

Kuroo hums. “It would make the onsen even better,” he says, then turns to Kenma with a grin. “Kenma?”

Kenma makes the same disgruntled noise, but he can tell he’s on the losing side of this battle.

“Yaku?” Kuroo asks instead.

“I’m game,” Yaku says, sitting up to add, “It might even make them tired.” He jerks his thumb in the direction of Inuoka and Lev, joined now by Tora for maximum volume capacity.

Shibayama leaves the brochure in their hands and scoots over to make a valiant attempt at getting Kenma see the joy in hiking. It doesn’t really work, mostly because Kuroo’s tried the same thing dozens of times before.

“We’re going to get sweaty.” Kenma starts up his psp.

“We would be doing that at practice anyways!” Shibayama says. He turns to Fukunaga to ask, “Don’t you think it would be fun?”

Fukunaga looks up, face blank. He nods once.

Shibayama brightens immediately, and Kenma gives Fukunaga his best withering glare. Traitor.

“Majority rules, then,” Kuroo says, clapping his hands together.

“Majority rules!” Inuoka echoes, and Kenma sighs. He hits the off button wearily.

Half an hour later, they’re all assembled outside, a trail map provided by the onsen in Yaku’s grip and the sun still summertime bright despite the chill. 

Kai waves off his aunt, who’s told them to be careful not to be out too late, before they head out. The trails start a little ways from the onsen, so they set off along the thin road. Trees line one side, growing densely together the farther out they get.

“D’you think we’ll see any animals?” Inuoka asks Tora, who hums deeply. The two of them lead the group, voices loud in the otherwise quiet of the area.

“I bet,” Tora starts, eyes flashing, “there are tons of foxes and bears in this area.”

Inuoka jolts, like either will show up right now along the road. “That'd be so cool.”

The sign that tells them they’ve reached the trails is posted in a flat dirt clearing with a simple map. Yamamoto and Inuoka wait for the rest of the group to catch up with barely contained impatience. 

“This looks a lot steeper than I thought it’d be,” Yaku says, sounding excited.

“We’re closer to the mountains than back home,” Shibayama points out, keeping step with Yaku. “I bet you can see Mount Fuji really well from the top.”

Kenma follows Yaku’s gaze, watches the trail disappear up to their right. It _is_ pretty steep looking, and he cranes his neck back to see if he can spot the top.

“It’s not as bad as it look,” Kai assures him when he catches Kenma’s expression. Kenma finds that doubtful.

Once the group is close enough, Tora and Inuoka start heading onto the trail, voices loud enough to carry to the back of the group.

“Stay on the path!” Yaku calls as Lev runs to join the two of them. “And don’t touch anything!”

“Yessir!” the three of them call, and then they're out of sight.

“They're going to get lost,” Kenma says without looking up from the puzzle game on his phone.

Shibayama laughs. “Kenma-san, I don't think you can say that.”

Kuroo grins. “He's right, you know.”

Kenma huffs, the short breath ruffling his bangs. This time he looks up when he speaks. “I don't get lost that often.”

“You do,” Kuroo says while Shibayama and Fukunaga head towards the excited shouting of the trio ahead of them.

“Don’t.”

The trail curves slightly, and once they pass an upended tree, it opens up in front of them. Another sign meets them, directing them towards three separate paths. Lev and the others are halfway up the path sloping steadily upwards, and Kenma stares forlornly at the even path branching off to his right.

“What's taking you so long, huh?” Tora hollers from where he's at the head of the group.

“Is that a challenge?” Yaku asks.

“Everything Taketora does is a competition,” Kai reminds him, but Yaku takes the bait and charges up anyways. Kai follows just as quickly.

Kuroo taps the blackened screen of Kenma’s screen before following after Yaku and Kai at a jog. “Do.”

Kenma follows behind, jogging half-heartedly until he catches up to Fukunaga. Tora’s voice mingles with Kuroo’s, occasionally punctuated by Inuoka or Yaku’s voice. Unwillingly, Kenma finds himself relaxing despite the sweat he’s starting to build up; the wind is cold, but nice against his skin, and the sound of water just out of sight is almost as soothing as the fading voices of his teammates. He pauses in his game to text Shoyou, scowling as he notices his signal dropping. He’s relying maybe a little too much on following Fukunaga and Lev’s form as the trail begins to snake around jutting rock and tree roots. He only looks up when he hears Lev say, in a worrying enough tone that Kenma’s stomach drops, “Eh?”

Then, “Where’d everyone else go?”

Kenma glances behind him and sees nothing but an expanse of dirt and trees and pebble. Up ahead, the same, only with the added bonus of a wide-eyed Lev spinning full circle as if that would help him locate the others.

“Ugh,” Kenma says. He thought that following a path would be fool-proof. “You didn’t see what direction they went in?”

“I thought they were in front of us!” Lev says, running forward. Kenma cusses under his breath before following him, Fukunaga right behind him. The path evens out, a small plateau, and Lev does another full circle turn. Kenma doesn’t even see another sign to tell them where they were on the trail, and even though the path is more or less a straight-shot ahead of them, he doesn’t see signs of anyone passing through here before them.

“Did the trail divide?” Kenma asks, pushing his bangs away from his face and looking behind him again. He has no idea how long they’ve been walking. Fukunaga nods, and Kenma’s mouth scrunches in irritation.

He doesn’t say anything, just turns around to go back from where they came. The only thing he can think is that they will have better luck if they find the fork in the path again. Fukunaga and Lev follow, Lev overtaking them easily.

“Stay in sight, Lev,” Kenma says, because he’s not sure he’ll be convincingly enough worried if he does lose sight of Lev.

“Right!” Lev says, with a little salute that has Kenma rolling his eyes.

They’ve been walking for a handful of minutes when something snaps loudly off to their left, in the thick of trees. Kenma jumps. The sound continues, getting closer, and Lev makes a strangled screaming sound before scurrying behind Kenma. His fingers dig into Kenma’s shoulder painfully.

“What is that, what is that?” he asks, too loud to be a proper whisper.

“I don’t know,” Kenma hisses, trying to get out of his grip. He reaches forward and snags the hem of Fukunaga’s sweater to stop him from advancing towards the sound. Unwillingly, he thinks of Tora and Inuoka’s conversation. If anyone is going to lead that expedition, Kenma’s going to make sure it’s Lev, because he’ll scream loud enough to alert the entire mountain to their situation.

“There they are!” Inuoka’s voice calls, and then he’s skidding into view, Shibayama hurrying behind him. There are leaves in Inuoka’s hair, and the path they come from is little more than a dirt footpath. Kenma has no idea how they ended up on it.

Lev finally lets go, and Kenma lets out a relieved sigh.

“Where’s Kuroo-san and the others?” Lev asks, peering around Inuoka to see if the group was coming behind them, as if he couldn’t just stare right over both of their heads.

“They’re not with you?” Shibayama asks, frowning. He sounds out of breath, and when no one answers, his faces turns crestfallen.

Guilt falls over the entire group.

“That’s okay,” Inuoka says enthusiastically, breaking through the sudden gloom over the group, “Shibayama, you still have the map, right? It’ll probably help if we know which path we’re on.”

“Ah!” Shibayama brightens immediately, hands going to his pockets. The expression drops, eclipsed by a rising panic. “Um,” Shibayama says tremulously, glancing at the ground around him. “I...don’t have it anymore?”

Seemingly in tandem, Inuoka and Shibayama turn to look back from the direction they came in just in time to see a single, folded up piece of paper catch the wind and fly off into the trees.

“Th--that’s okay,” Inuoka says, a brave smile on his face. Kenma would almost appreciate the bravado if they weren’t doomed. “We can…retrace our steps?”

He looks at Kenma, and with a growing alarm, Kenma realizes that Inuoka’s waiting for him to make the decision. “Uh.” Kenma looks at the path the two of them came from. “Maybe...not that path.”

Kenma’s pretty sure he can see where a second path meets the one they’re on just a few meters ahead, so he starts walking in that direction, gut still nervous. He has a terrible sense of direction, and he’d thought everyone on the team knew that. Kenma normally just...waited to be found.

He has a feeling that, since Kuroo and the others were presumably ahead of them, they would be better off staying put once they found a spot with a better sightline. Or with a bench. Kenma would very much like a bench.

He’s rewarded with exactly that when they’ve gone down a few meters, right as Inuoka is beginning to complain about being hungry. Kenma reaches into his pockets, but he left his snacks in Kuroo’s bag, and Kai was the one carrying the lunch they were going to eat.

It looks like the area was cleared to be a camping site, complete with two picnic benches and a cold rock pit. Kenma collapses on the bench, feeling the burn in his legs.  
Shibayama drops his bag to the ground, then drops down next to it. He produces protein bars a moment later, and Kenma mentally thanks whatever deity gave their team Shibayama.

“Now what?” Inuoka asks while chewing.

Kenma tilts his head, thinking. “It’s probably better if we stay in one place,” he says, twisting his phone in his hands, “but we still need to figure out where we are.”

He looks at Fukunaga, who glances towards the trail with a shrug.

“Fukunaga and I will see if there’s a sign nearby. So just--just…”

“Stay?” Fukunaga recommends, and Kenma lets out a breath.

“Yeah, stay.” He tries to be stern. He’s not sure if it works. “We’ll be back in a bit.”

“Yessir,” the three of them chant, and Kenma winces at the formality.

“Right,” he mutters, and is thankful when Fukunaga leads the way. Kenma takes out his phone with the idea of calling Kuroo to figure out where he and the others are.

He has no bars, though. Because of course he doesn’t.

Kenma tilts his head up and lets out a short, annoyed sigh.

“Is your phone getting service?” Kenma asks Fukunaga, half-hopeful.

Fukunaga pulls his phone out of the pocket of his bookbag and flips it open. He lifts it up, frowning. Kenma takes that to mean no, and slumps forward.

“Great,” he mutters, and Fukunaga pats his back awkwardly before putting his phone away.

Before long, they see a sign, telling them which number trail they’re on and how much farther the peak versus the base of the mountain is. Kenma wants to cry with relief, just a little bit, as he puts the information into his phone. If his signal returns, he’ll try texting Kuroo or Yaku.

The clouds are beginning to gather now, giving the previously pleasant trail an ominous dark tint. Kenma thinks of the rock pit, and wonders if the others had something to start a fire with. Was that illegal, if they weren’t technically camping?

Kenma is beginning to think he doesn’t care.

 

When they get back, none of the first years are in sight, and the relief Kenma was beginning to feel dissipates in a single instance.

“Inuoka?” he calls tentatively. The clouds moving above them start to feel more like a metaphor. Kenma coughs, raising his voice a little bit. “Shibayama? Lev?”

He finds Shibayama’s bag near the rock pit, which at least gives him hope that they didn’t wander far. Fukunaga makes a small noise that makes Kenma walk over, stepping carefully over the plants and roots between them. There’s a creek running through the area, and Fukunaga points to a trio of footprints--two very large, one comparatively tiny.

“Didn’t we tell them to stay put,” Kenma huffs, pushing his bangs from his face. They’ve started to stick to his face because of the sweat. He trudges forward, careful not to slip on the mud. “Lev!”

“Kenma!” he hears Lev call, and then his head seems to pop right out of the ground. Kenma jolts back, crashing into Fukunaga, before realizing the ground drops off suddenly. He moves forward, crouching to peer over the ledge and spots Shibayama and Inuoka.

“Are any of you hurt?” he asks, worried. He’s about to move forward, to give them a hand up when Fukunaga grabs his elbow. At Kenma’s look, Fukunaga points to the plant Kenma would have walked into.

It doesn’t really mean anything to him until he looks back at Lev and the others and notices.

They’re itching. They’re all itching, and Kenma’s not sure if his relief at finding them outweighs his sudden annoyance.

“What did you do?” he asks, aiming this question primarily at Lev.

“That not fair!” Lev wails, but Kenma doesn’t budge. Lev pouts.

“Can you climb up from there?” Kenma asks, deciding blame can be determined later.

“We already tried that,” Inuoka says with a dejected sigh.

Kenma’s about to suggest Shibayama get on Lev’s shoulders when he hears movement from back on the trail.

“Oi!” someone calls loudly, startling Kenma into sitting up, “Where’re you guys?”

Kenma has never in his life been more relieved to hear Tora’s voice. He and Fukunaga step out of the trees carefully. Kenma glares at Lev, and hopes that works as a command to not move. Again.

“Over here,” Kenma calls.

“Fukunaga! Kenma!” Tora cries, and then Kenma’s head is being squished against Tora’s chest. Tora sniffs tearfully, and Kenma awkwardly tries to pat his back before wriggling himself out of Tora’s grip.

Kuroo, Kai, and Yaku are just behind him, all looking equally relieved.

“Are you guys okay? Where are the first years?” Yaku calls when he’s close. Kenma grimaces, and Fukunaga jabs his thumb in the direction of the clearing. Yaku gives them a curious look before walking past them. The rest of them follow after him.

“What happened to them?” Kuroo asks in a low voice.

“Poison Ivy, I think,” Kenma answers.

Yaku’s question of “What did you do?” is met with a lovely crack of thunder. Kenma sighs at the sky. The clouds have moved in fully over head. He can’t help but feel like they’re mocking him.

With some effort, they manage to help the first years out of the ditch, careful of the angry red on their skin, before trudging back out of the woods.

“I just wanted to see what it was,” Lev is trying to explain. Kenma’s pretty sure none of them are listening.

Inuoka scratches at spot behind his kneecap with a groan. “Does this stuff spread?”

“Kenma-san, does this stuff spread?” Shibayama asks.

“Kuroo, does poison ivy spread?” Kenma asks, deciding that now that everyone was together again, he could go back to his phone.

“Kai, does poison ivy--”

“ _Better question_ ,” Yaku says in his most dangerous voice, “What do we use to treat it?”

 

So, they don’t get to the top of the mountain. They don’t get a hundred meters before the rain starts to fall, actually, and Kenma can’t help the laughter that bubbles up in him as everyone looks up like the sky has personally offended every single one of them.

Kuroo starts laughing as well, the ugly laughter that always gets everyone else laughing, too, and despite the rain and the poison ivy and the fact that none of them have had a proper lunch, the mood lightens as their laughter grows.

Lev and Inuoka are leaping forwards, holding onto each other so they don’t go skidding in the mud their footsteps make. Inuoka spins around mid-motion, saying something to Shibayama that gets lost in the rain, but makes Shibayama laugh. Yaku and Tora are arguing good-naturedly just behind them, Tora’s arm making a sweeping gesture.

Kai offers Fukunaga an onigiri from him backpack, seeming unconcerned with the rain.

“You should really share those,” Kuroo says, and Kai digs his hand into his backpack, tossing one to Kuroo, then Kenma. Kuroo catches both, stuffing one in Kenma’s pocket. They bring up the back of the group, eating in silence as the rain falls steadily around them.

“So, what did you think?” Kuroo asks, trying and failing to get his wet bangs out of his eye. He’s grinning brightly despite the absolute misery they’ve all been through, and Kenma can’t help the small smile it gets out of him.

“It was terrible,” he says, just as the road becomes visible to him, and Kuroo laughs.

“Yeah, but,” Kuroo says, watching as the group in front of them gradually come to a stop at the base at the trail. The rain almost masks their chatter, and Kuroo’s smile turns softer. “It’s nice, don’t you think?”

Kenma watches him for a moment before kicking him lightly behind the knee. His shoe leaves a smear of mud along Kuroo’s pants. “You should try and recapture your youth, Kuroo.”

Kuroo knocks his shoulder into Kenma's before skidding the rest of the way down to the group. Kenma pushes his hair out of his eyes and follows. The team is waiting for him, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> I...went a slightly different direction than you asked for, I think, but I hope you liked it!


End file.
